It has actually warmed up quite a bit here since it rained so we are not having to wear jackets as much in the night time like we had to before. This is kind of nice as the night is the perfect temperature right now, but it will suck when it starts heating up a lot again.
I am glad to hear that you guys had a good time with Blaine and Maxine at the movies. It's usually quite an experience/adventure to go out with them.
Love you Guys,
Jord
Audio summary...
Ola! This is end of the first week of the 2nd transfer with Elder Gillespie. Because we didn't get transferred last week we had to stay in the Pension, but there were other Elders who came to stay with us because we have 2 extra beds. They came at 3am when we were sleeping. They turned on the light... jumped on my bed... woke me up from my sleep... fun missionary stuff!
This week we went to see one less active family - the Solars. They bought a new fridge so we went to help them install in which was pretty fun. We had to slide it down the hallway to the kitchen, then we had to figure out how to take the doors off because the fridge was too wide to get through. We did that, got the fridge in the kitchen, put the doors back on and then got it running. It was fun... I love doing stuff like that... figuring things out and getting it done.
Elder Gillespie's birthday was on Friday. We went to Jocelyn's house (1 of the 2 Jocelyn's) - she is a recent convert and she gave Elder Gillespie some cologne and her grandmother gave me a chocolate bar. I'm not sure why, maybe just because I didn't get anything, but I was pretty happy because I like chocolate.
This is the same Jocelyn who has her random emotional days. We figured out that it always seems to happen on Tuesday, so we're not going to go there on Tuesday. This week we went on Wednesday and there was no problems. We had a really good lesson.
The popitos, the people we eat with, had some questions about the second coming - what it's going to be like, what will happen before, etc. We answered their questions which was pretty cool. I was able to share quite a bit of the stuff that I have been reading in the Old Testament. I think I was able to open the eyes of their young son who is about 13 years old. Elder Gillespie said he was listening, wide eyed. The war before the second coming will be pretty crazy!
This week we made salad at the Pension, including some turkey because we couldn't find chicken. The salads we made were so big I had to use a pot because we didn't have a bowl that was large enough. I just ate salad out of a pot. Elder Gillespie was laughing at me - it was pretty funny! We made salad twice and it was really good.
We were at the church this Friday and were changing/organizing the "seemi" (ward list) so it was easier to work with to help out the ward. They don't have a secretary so they needed some help. While we were doing that we got a call from the zone leader and there were some changes in the rules from the new mission president. One was basic - under President Bruce we only had 1 hour in the evening to do eat, plan and get ready for bed. Apparently it is supposed to be 1 1/2 hours so that's really nice because we're not as rushed and we can plan better. The second change was a lot bigger. There's a the rule that says you can't visit women alone unless you have another adult male present. Under President Bruce that rule wasn't enforced. He said don't do anything stupid, but we could teach them on our own so that's what we'd been doing. Now, under President Dalton, we had to take someone with us to visit women - it will be more work because the wards aren't used to that, we aren't used to that, but we think it will be fantastic. Now that we're forced to, it could be a lot better as it will force us to have the members involved. This is what we've always wanted, but when it wasn't required and easier not to do it, it typically didn't happen. It will require better relationships with the members, more effort by the ward mission leader, more work on our part, but it will be fantastic. We're really excited! It sounds like there will be some other changes coming down, but less significant.
With this recent change, we went to a couple lessons this week with a lady in the ward whose a recent convert and had a member present. It was awesome - we walked in and they started talking. We didn't have to worry about small talk or anything, we listened then asked to have a prayer and shared a message and some scriptures. She also asked questions - she always has lots of questions which is good and then we wrapped it up. The guy we took was a return missionary and very knowledgeable and knows what to talk about, sometimes more than we do in some situations, possibly. It was good for us and she seemed content. I loved it.
On Saturday there was a ward baptism. It was from us, but it was pretty well done. We ended up doing a lot of it so we need to make some changes there because that's not how it should be, but it was good.
We had 123 people in church this week. The most I'd seen before that was about 96. It was awesome. The church was almost full! There were a lot of people there that hadn't been before. The family Solar that we had a lesson with - he's a return missionary and she was baptized when she was young but they've been less active. But, they know what's going on in the church and they have a lot of knowledge. It seems the most effective way of dealing with them is to go in and rebuke them. I've tried other ways, being all warm and cuddly, but it doesn't work. You have to give them a bit of a wake up call, make them feel a bit of guilt and help them feel the spirit again because that's what makes them go back to church. They work a ton and are really busy, but we were able to get in and teach them this week. We were a bit harsh and pointed out that their family is falling apart because they are focusing so much on work, then we shared a message. We met with her again later in the week and she said after we'd left they just sat there for about 30 minutes without saying anything and then finally they talked about what was going on. Then on Sunday, they went to church... the whole family went to church! We were so happy. It was fantastic! Not only that, one of their sons got up and bore his testimony. We were sitting near the front and the kids came and sat beside us because we're cool missionaries. Leus, whose 12, said to me, "you have to get up and bear your testimony", so I said I'd bear my testimony if he'd bear his testimony and he said "ok". He waited a bit so I started pushing a bit and then he went up and I went up behind him. It was a little odd bearing my testimony at the pulpit as a missionary, on a Sunday, because we don't usually do that. There was a lot of people that bore their testimonies. Their youngest son, Bencumin who is 5 was like a tornado and was all over the place. One lady, Armana Frescia, who is pretty serious, apparently didn't approve so she reprimanded him... and he stopped. He was probably so shocked, but it was awesome.
We had supper at the family Campos house. They are so cool - just a really good family. I don't think either of them served missions, but they are really active. He's the High Priest Group Leader, she's the Stake Relief Society President, one of the daughter's went on mission, the other daughter's husband is a bishop, one of their son's is going on a mission. They're just a great family - we love going there!
We have a fairly new investigator about 2-3 weeks ago, Lisa. She's a lawyer and she's super smart. The lawyer's here seem to be very smart. She was asking about the Abrahamic Covenant and we were reading in Galacians where it talks about getting accepted into the Abrahamic Covenant if you're not of the seed of Abraham. We read it and Elder Gillespie started to explain it a bit and she said Wait... so if I want to be accepted into the covenant I have to get baptized and ours jaws dropped. We were like, yes, that's exactly what you have to do. No one would ever get that. I don't know how she caught that after he just read it. We were amazed! We thought, wow, that was impressive. Now it's a bit tougher to visit her because she's a single lady.
The other Jocelyn, the one who we're waiting on to get married - she read the scriptures this week. Yeah, we were happy about that. Also, her fiance's brother came to church this week so we were happy about that too!
That's this week's recording - a long one. I love you guys.
Caio!
Audio summary...
Ola! This is end of the first week of the 2nd transfer with Elder Gillespie. Because we didn't get transferred last week we had to stay in the Pension, but there were other Elders who came to stay with us because we have 2 extra beds. They came at 3am when we were sleeping. They turned on the light... jumped on my bed... woke me up from my sleep... fun missionary stuff!
This week we went to see one less active family - the Solars. They bought a new fridge so we went to help them install in which was pretty fun. We had to slide it down the hallway to the kitchen, then we had to figure out how to take the doors off because the fridge was too wide to get through. We did that, got the fridge in the kitchen, put the doors back on and then got it running. It was fun... I love doing stuff like that... figuring things out and getting it done.
Elder Gillespie's birthday was on Friday. We went to Jocelyn's house (1 of the 2 Jocelyn's) - she is a recent convert and she gave Elder Gillespie some cologne and her grandmother gave me a chocolate bar. I'm not sure why, maybe just because I didn't get anything, but I was pretty happy because I like chocolate.
This is the same Jocelyn who has her random emotional days. We figured out that it always seems to happen on Tuesday, so we're not going to go there on Tuesday. This week we went on Wednesday and there was no problems. We had a really good lesson.
The popitos, the people we eat with, had some questions about the second coming - what it's going to be like, what will happen before, etc. We answered their questions which was pretty cool. I was able to share quite a bit of the stuff that I have been reading in the Old Testament. I think I was able to open the eyes of their young son who is about 13 years old. Elder Gillespie said he was listening, wide eyed. The war before the second coming will be pretty crazy!
This week we made salad at the Pension, including some turkey because we couldn't find chicken. The salads we made were so big I had to use a pot because we didn't have a bowl that was large enough. I just ate salad out of a pot. Elder Gillespie was laughing at me - it was pretty funny! We made salad twice and it was really good.
We were at the church this Friday and were changing/organizing the "seemi" (ward list) so it was easier to work with to help out the ward. They don't have a secretary so they needed some help. While we were doing that we got a call from the zone leader and there were some changes in the rules from the new mission president. One was basic - under President Bruce we only had 1 hour in the evening to do eat, plan and get ready for bed. Apparently it is supposed to be 1 1/2 hours so that's really nice because we're not as rushed and we can plan better. The second change was a lot bigger. There's a the rule that says you can't visit women alone unless you have another adult male present. Under President Bruce that rule wasn't enforced. He said don't do anything stupid, but we could teach them on our own so that's what we'd been doing. Now, under President Dalton, we had to take someone with us to visit women - it will be more work because the wards aren't used to that, we aren't used to that, but we think it will be fantastic. Now that we're forced to, it could be a lot better as it will force us to have the members involved. This is what we've always wanted, but when it wasn't required and easier not to do it, it typically didn't happen. It will require better relationships with the members, more effort by the ward mission leader, more work on our part, but it will be fantastic. We're really excited! It sounds like there will be some other changes coming down, but less significant.
With this recent change, we went to a couple lessons this week with a lady in the ward whose a recent convert and had a member present. It was awesome - we walked in and they started talking. We didn't have to worry about small talk or anything, we listened then asked to have a prayer and shared a message and some scriptures. She also asked questions - she always has lots of questions which is good and then we wrapped it up. The guy we took was a return missionary and very knowledgeable and knows what to talk about, sometimes more than we do in some situations, possibly. It was good for us and she seemed content. I loved it.
On Saturday there was a ward baptism. It was from us, but it was pretty well done. We ended up doing a lot of it so we need to make some changes there because that's not how it should be, but it was good.
We had 123 people in church this week. The most I'd seen before that was about 96. It was awesome. The church was almost full! There were a lot of people there that hadn't been before. The family Solar that we had a lesson with - he's a return missionary and she was baptized when she was young but they've been less active. But, they know what's going on in the church and they have a lot of knowledge. It seems the most effective way of dealing with them is to go in and rebuke them. I've tried other ways, being all warm and cuddly, but it doesn't work. You have to give them a bit of a wake up call, make them feel a bit of guilt and help them feel the spirit again because that's what makes them go back to church. They work a ton and are really busy, but we were able to get in and teach them this week. We were a bit harsh and pointed out that their family is falling apart because they are focusing so much on work, then we shared a message. We met with her again later in the week and she said after we'd left they just sat there for about 30 minutes without saying anything and then finally they talked about what was going on. Then on Sunday, they went to church... the whole family went to church! We were so happy. It was fantastic! Not only that, one of their sons got up and bore his testimony. We were sitting near the front and the kids came and sat beside us because we're cool missionaries. Leus, whose 12, said to me, "you have to get up and bear your testimony", so I said I'd bear my testimony if he'd bear his testimony and he said "ok". He waited a bit so I started pushing a bit and then he went up and I went up behind him. It was a little odd bearing my testimony at the pulpit as a missionary, on a Sunday, because we don't usually do that. There was a lot of people that bore their testimonies. Their youngest son, Bencumin who is 5 was like a tornado and was all over the place. One lady, Armana Frescia, who is pretty serious, apparently didn't approve so she reprimanded him... and he stopped. He was probably so shocked, but it was awesome.
We had supper at the family Campos house. They are so cool - just a really good family. I don't think either of them served missions, but they are really active. He's the High Priest Group Leader, she's the Stake Relief Society President, one of the daughter's went on mission, the other daughter's husband is a bishop, one of their son's is going on a mission. They're just a great family - we love going there!
We have a fairly new investigator about 2-3 weeks ago, Lisa. She's a lawyer and she's super smart. The lawyer's here seem to be very smart. She was asking about the Abrahamic Covenant and we were reading in Galacians where it talks about getting accepted into the Abrahamic Covenant if you're not of the seed of Abraham. We read it and Elder Gillespie started to explain it a bit and she said Wait... so if I want to be accepted into the covenant I have to get baptized and ours jaws dropped. We were like, yes, that's exactly what you have to do. No one would ever get that. I don't know how she caught that after he just read it. We were amazed! We thought, wow, that was impressive. Now it's a bit tougher to visit her because she's a single lady.
The other Jocelyn, the one who we're waiting on to get married - she read the scriptures this week. Yeah, we were happy about that. Also, her fiance's brother came to church this week so we were happy about that too!
That's this week's recording - a long one. I love you guys.
Caio!
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